Andrea Barducci, President of the Province of Florence has backed the campaign to stop removal of a woman who was raped and tortured in Nigeria.
Tina Richard, 28, has been denied asylum in Italy and risks expulsion. “Expulsion of Tina Richard would be equivalent to a death sentence,” Mr. Barducci said.
He said it is not the first time that the Province of Florence is campaigning against violations of human rights. It has played a key role in defending the rights of Palestinians and the Saharawis. The province also played a key role in the campaign to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani from being stoned to death in Iran. “We will do the same to try to save Tina Richard’s life,” Mr. Barducci said.
Senators Marco Perduca and Mariapia Garavaglia have also appealed to Mr. Roberto Maroni, Minister of Home Affairs to find a better solution to Tina’s case.
EveryOne Group, a humanitarian organization assisting Tina said that she fled to Italy at the age of 15 after a powerful and wealthy man who wanted to marry her by force killed her parents.
Tina received help from the local bishop of Kanu and arrived in Italy for the first time in 1998. A year later, however, she was deported to Nigeria having been caught living illegally in the country.
Upon her return to Nigeria she was kidnapped by the man, raped, tortured, and kept prisoner in his home for months. After managing to escape from the man’s home, Tina set off on a journey through Sierra Leone, Liberia, Morocco and then Spain, where she finally boarded a boat for Genoa in September 2003.
Her application for international protection was rejected last July.
Mr. Barducci said Tina should be saved from a new dramatic expulsion from Italy.
“Tina Richard's case is a clear example of how poor - and often non-existent - is the institutional protection of the rights of women from countries that do not recognize their dignity and freedom,” said EveryOne Group.
The human rights body has officially asked the Italian Government to grant Tina refugee status, asserting as Mr. Barducci said, that "her deportation would amount to a death sentence."
“Many women like Tina have been deported back to Nigeria over recent months and years, where they are sent back to hell. No one knows how many are still alive, because there is no humanitarian monitoring of deportees, who are regularly forgotten and left, inexplicably, at the mercy of their captors,” said EveryOne Group.
By Stephen Ogongo Ongong’a
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